No. 10 USC Men's Volleyball Falls to No. 4 Penn State at Rec Hall

Friday, February 3

University Park, Pa.

4:00 PM

USC

6-3,0-0MPSF

Penn State

7-1,0-0EIVA

Southern California

Penn St.

Photo by: Jenny Chuang

No. 10 USC Men's Volleyball Falls to No. 4 Penn State at Rec Hall

February 03, 2023 | Men's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score Highlights

Freshman OH Dillon Klein led the Trojans with 20 kills in a four-set loss to the Nittany Lions

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The 10th-ranked USC men's volleyball team (6-3) fell to fourth-ranked Penn State (7-1) in four sets (30-28, 25-20, 23-25, 25-18) in the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge at Rec Hall on Friday, Feb. 3.

KEY PLAYERS

Fr. OH Dillon Klein reached double-digit kills in his seventh straight match and matched his career high with 20 kills (8e, 39att) on .308 hitting to go with six digs and three blocks (one solo).
Gr. OH Kevin Kobrine matched his season high with 15 kills (6e, 34att, .265) and added seven digs and three blocks.
So. OH Jack Deuchar reached a new career mark with nine kills and had two blocks and a dig.
Fr. S Ryan Sprague put up 23 assists with three digs while Jr. S Nate Tennant posted 14 assists and four digs.
Sr. LIB George Dyer led the Trojans with 12 digs and put up three assists.
For the Nittany Lions, Cal Fisher had 13 kills on .429 hitting, Brett Wildman led with 16 kills on .237 hitting and had nine digs; and Cole Bogner posted 44 assists with 12 digs and two blocks.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The score was tied 15 times and the lead changed hands five times in the first set before the Lions could claim a 30-28 win. Penn State had set point first at 25-24, but USC fought it off and had chances at 27-26 and 28-27, but the Nittany Lions put the clamps down to take the opener despite six Trojan kills from Klein.
Wildman and Fisher each had six kills apiece and helped the Lions hit .609 in the second set en route to a 25-20 win for a 2-0 lead in the match. Klein added four more kills, but the Trojans could only dig up six balls in the set as PSU pulled away at the end. USC did lead by as many as three points early on.
Penn State led by six points at 10-4 in the third set, but the Trojans mounted a comeback and tied the score at 18-all. Kobrine had six kills and Klein added four and USC racked up 4.5 blocks to get a 25-23 win.
The Trojans had 13 kills but hit just .133 in the fourth as Penn State closed out the match with a 25-18 win. The Lions had five blocks to contribute to USC's nine hitting errors and had a pair of service aces in the fourth.

UP NEXT

USC is back in action for the second of two matches at the Pac-12/Big Ten Challenge and will take on 13th-ranked Ohio State (6-3) at 4 p.m. ET (1 p.m. PT) at Rec Hall on Saturday, Feb. 4. The match will be shown live on B1G+.

MATCH NOTES

USC fell to 20-12 all-time against Penn State.
The Trojans go to 6-10 all-time in the state of Pennsylvania, which includes a 3-7 mark against the Nittany Lions.
USC out-blocked its opponent for the sixth time this season (9.5 to 6).

For more information on the USC men's volleyball team and a complete schedule and results, please visit USCTrojans.com/MVB. Fans of the Trojans can follow @USCmensvolley on Twitter and Instagram.